Accounting Row

May 19, 2014 (LBO) – A legislator has renewed a call to publish audited accounts of Sri Lanka’s Employees Provident Fund and table them in the parliament amid concerns over the purchase of some fundamentally weak shares at high prices during a stock market bubble. Sri Lanka’s EPF, which represents pension contributions of private sector employees is managed by the state though the Central Bank.

Harsha de Silva, an economist and legislator said the 1.3 billion rupees of EPF funds did not belong to the Central Bank.

“It belongs to the 2.4 million hard working private sector employees who contribute part of their salary every month so that they could earn a decent return over the years and receive a significant payment at retirement in order to spend the evening of their lives without being a burden to society,” he said in a statement.

“The EPF Department of the Central Bank is only the custodian of the money.

“Beyond the legal requirement the EPF has a moral and an ethical obligation to produce annual accounts and present them as quickly as possible to the real owners of the money.”

Though some financial highlights have been published in newspapers de Silva said audited accounts are not available from after 2010.

“The last set of com

Search for:

About Us

LBO is the pioneer and leader in online business and economics news in Sri Lanka, LBO brings you a more comprehensive online news experience, integrating a host of interactive tools to keep you better informed.